Rahm Emanuel Signals White House Is Willing To Compromise On Public Plan

In his efforts to fashion a bipartisan compromise on health reform, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) has been trying to find alternatives to a robust public plan, which many Republicans refuse to consider. One of Baucus’s ideas has been to institute a public plan “trigger.” Under this proposal, the public plan would be created only if private insurance companies don’t make “meaningful, affordable coverage available to all Americans” within a certain period of time.

Mr. Emanuel said one of several ways to meet President Barack Obama’s goals is a mechanism under which a public plan is introduced only if the marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own. He noted that congressional Republicans crafted a similar trigger mechanism when they created a prescription-drug benefit for Medicare in 2003. In that case, private competition has been judged sufficient and the public option has never gone into effect. […]

On Monday, Mr. Emanuel said the trigger mechanism would also accomplish the White House’s goals. Under this scenario, a public plan would kick in under certain circumstances when competition was judged to be lacking. Exactly what circumstances would trigger the option would have to be worked out.

,President Obama issued a statement this morning, reiterating his support for a public plan:

I am pleased by the progress we’re making on health care reform and still believe, as I’ve said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest. I look forward to a final product that achieves these very important goals.